Suvarnabhumi tops global ranking of airports at risk of coastal flooding

June 4, 2021
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Research shows that Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport is most at risk of coastal flooding, due to rising sea levels, compared to many other airports around the world.

According to the “Global analysis of sea level rise risk to airports”, published in the Climate Risk Management journal earlier this year, Suvarnabhumi airport has the highest risk of coastal flooding, out of all 14,000 airports analysed based on the current sea levels.

The research, conducted by Aaron Yesudian and Richard Dawson of Newcastle University in the UK, combines information about the location of the airports, their exposure to storm surges for current and future sea levels, their (pre-COVID-19) connectivity and aircraft traffic and their current standard of flood protection.

The report said that a number of airports around the world are already at risk of coastal flooding. A modest rise in sea level, such as that associated with a global mean temperature rise of 2°C, would place 100 airports below mean sea level.

It also identifies 269 airports that are at risk of coastal flooding, and this could grow to 572 by 2100.

The top 10 airports at risk based on current sea levels are: